Sun and Shadow
by Maphiko
Summary: Tifa is behaving peculiarly. . .It's up to Cloud to find out why, but soon he will find he's in way over his head. . .
1. Bloom

Sun and Shadow  
  
By Sephiroth 4000  
  
Chapter 1: Bloom  
  
Sunlight filtered through the broken rafters, gilding the blonde hair of the young man who stood in the shadows. It had been a long time since he had returned here; more then year actually. He simply let his eyes drink in the greenery which had swallowed up the long row of pews, unwilling to look ahead.  
  
Because somehow this place didn't seem right without her. . .  
  
It felt the same, though. The flowers still bloomed, scattering their light etheral scent, and the sun still gently shone down on their upturned faces. Everything was the same, even that feeling of peace that made him straigten his shoulders, feeling his muscles subtly relax. . .because somehow he was safe here, and he didn't need to be constantly vigilant. Because in a very special way, here he wasn't important.  
  
Here, where he had met her for the second time.  
  
Reluctantly, azure eyes turned their way to where he had fallen, on the flowerbed. The blossums still flowered there in profusion, pink, white, yellow and green merging together in a kaleidascope of colour from behind the tears that momentarily clouded sky blue eyes. And to his surprise, as he looked, he saw her, a lovely brunette; not dressed in her customary pink, but in purest white.  
  
"Cloud?"  
  
He hastily wiped his eyes with a swift swipe of one black clad hand. His vision cleared, and he focused on her, fair complexion tinted with rose, brown hair flowing to below her waist, his welcome smiled on her lips, shining from her burgundy red eyes.  
  
"Tifa?"  
  
She looked at him questioningly, and then her smile widened. "Well, since you're here, you can help me with the flowers."  
  
He nodded, brows slowly drawing together, as he sensed. . .well, not that something was wrong precisely, but there was something not. . .right. . .even as she knelt down, a trowel held loosely in one ungloved hand, water can close by. He picked it up, and began trickling a thin stream of water on the dry areas of earth.  
  
"You come here often?"  
  
She nodded, absently brushing back a lock of hair that had fallen into her eyes. "Yes. . .it didn't seem right to let this place fall into ruins like everywhere else you know?"  
  
He nodded, and even though she had her back to him, knew she had seen. A nagging thought troubled him. . .  
  
Tifa had never been here. None of AVALANCHE had come here except for himself and Aeris. So. . .how had the young woman patiently weeding beside him known about this place? He hadn't remembered mentioning it. . .  
  
They worked in a comfortable silence. The sun shifted, and eventually they were left in shadow.  
  
Cloud clambered to his feet with a small groan; it felt like he had been bent double for a week not for mere hours. Tifa grinned in amusement, but let it pass, climbing uncharacteristically slowly to her feet. He looked at her oddly, darkness flashing briefly over sapphire orbs, but did not comment.  
  
"C'mon," was all he said, offering his arm with a wry smile. "Let's go home."  
  
To be continued. . . 


	2. Fall

Sun and Shadow  
By Sephiroth 4000  
Chapter 2: Fall_  
  
It hung closer and closer, a planet of swirling blues.  Indescribably beautiful, and all too much like her destroyed planet.  A planet, whose fragments she still clung to, as they were gradually pulled down.     
  
She knew what her end would be.  This meteor, the last of her Planet, would burn down through the atmosphere, losing size and weight.  It was large enough however, to still be big enough to cause a sizable crater when it would hit this Planet.  
  
Jenova grieved.  Had it come to this. . .She could do nothing.  She would die.    
  
And when her fiery death came. . .  
  
At least it would be quick.    
  
She looked ferverishly around.  There was something wrong with her; something wrong with this whole meteorite.  They were all sick, every last bit of life.  They should be dead. . .but for there people's techonology.  
  
All for naught, for they would die now.  
  
_Goodbye. . ._  
  
  
It hit the Planet with enough force to create the Northern Crater.  The space wandering Cetra found the sorely wounded Planet, and aimed to heal it, delving down to the very bottom of the wound, perceiving there was something down there halting the healing. . .  
  
And they found a woman of another race, living only because of the lifestream that had bled from the Planet's wound.  In her hands were two pieces of materia, the last remnant of her home.  One was small, the size of a bead, but shone with gentle white-green power.  
  
The other was black, the size of a fist, and seemed utterly lifeless.  
  
The Cetra took care of her, not knowing that she would spread the disease that would be their doom.  And Jenova fled, and ran back to where she had came, finally collapsing.  Dead.  
  
Eventually, in death, she would be found millenia later. . .  
  
_  
He woke abruptly, shaking his blonde head to clear it of his dreams.  Such strange dreams. . .but he had always had strange dreams, and long ago learnt to ignore them. _Meteor. . ._ _I saw it. . .falling towards the Planet. . ._  
  
He looked quickly over at the luminous face of the clock, and nodded to himself.  It was past time that he got up anyway.  
  
Cloud Strife quietly left his bed, dressed, and left.  
  


Behind him, a dazed pair of garnet eyes opened, and then, answering a call she could no longer resist, Tifa too, dressed and quietly slipped out of the house.


	3. Accidents will Happen

Sun and Shadow  
By Sephiroth 4000  
Chapter 3: Accidents will Happen  
  
_Don't forget your raincoat.  
  
_I won't.  
  
_It's a long way.  Should you take Cloud's chocobo? Maya was hurt in that accident last week.  
  
_Accident?  
  
_Don't you remember?  The accident?  
  
_Oh that.  Not really.  
  
_Hurry, Tifa.  
  
_She emerged from the bar, pulling the hood of her raincoat over to shield her wind chilled face from the pouring rain, and edged around the muddy puddles to the small chocobo stable adjacent to the bar.    
  
Maya cooed inquiringly as she entered the stable, but then tucked her head back down with a slightly offended squawk when Tifa headed to Nix, Cloud's chocobo.  Soon she was up on the feathery back, not bothering with a saddle since Nix didn't like them, and they were running through the rain.  
  
_----------One week ago----------  
  
"I'm going to the store Cloud!  What do we need?"  
  
"Um. . .Eggs. . .milk. . .vanilla icecream. . .and butter."  
  
"Okay!  I'll be back in a minute!"  
  
She closed the door harder then intended, and it slammed hard.  She shrugged, then pulled up the hood of her coat, sliding the handle of her shopping basket over one arm.  It was raining again, a misty rain, that softened everything, making it hard to make out any details properly.  
  
_Funny what you remember, isn't it.  
  
_She saddled up Maya; it wasn't far to the store, but the chocobo was restless, and clearly needed exercise, though she would wark indignantly at getting her feathers wet in the soft rain.  
  
She turned the bird easily, and they were soon trotting briskly down the road. Cold drops of mingled water and mud splashed on Tifa's naked legs, exposed to the elements by the short brown miniskirt she wore.  It was shockingly cold, and she rubbed the mud off, using one hand to hold the reins.  
  
_Careless. . .  
  
_"Evening, Ms. Lockhart!  What brings you out on a night like this?"  
  
She smiled wryly at the shop attendant.  "Nothing, except eggs, milk, vanilla ice cream, butter, and shampoo."  
  
He winked at her, then went to fetch her items from the store room.  She shivered, though the warmth of the store was quickly dispelling the chill from outside.  
  
Soon her basket was full with what she needed, and a few other trifling snacks, and she was on her way home, looking forward to a good long hot bath.  She could almost feel the water over her skin, the bright bathroom light on her closed eyes. . .  
  
Ligh-  
  
Her chocobo startled, wings flaring wide, dancing on one spot, even as from out of no where, a car came skidding through the night, laughter trailing maniacally through it's open doors.  Tifa fought desperately for control of Maya; she could jump off, but then Maya would be. . .  
  
_Only a second, and somehow I thought all of that.  It's strange, isn't it?  
  
_The car swerved wildly to avoid hitting her; but Maya chose just that instant to lift into the air; she was after all a Gold Chocobo.  Tifa was tumbled from her saddle, falling over and over, frantically trying to gain her feet, but she landed heavily in the mud, rolling directly into the car's way. . .  
  
A bright star of pain bloomed throughout her fragile body. . .she could feel it breaking underneath the rolling tires, and even though the driver had hit the brakes, the car had lost none of it's momentum.   
  
_Until then, I didn't know what pain was, not even while we fought against Sephiroth. Before then, I hadn't realized how badly the human body can be damaged and still live.  
  
. . . . .That's not true, I know.  But I had forgotten. . .Forgotten what it was like the time I fell from Mt. Nibel. . .  
  
_She was falling. . .falling not into darkness, but into a swirling green light.  
  
Something soothing gently flowed through her shattered body.  She was being buoyed back, carried back to life, and the blonde man who held her so tightly in his arms, Mako blue eyes narrowed in overwhelming grief.  
  
And a single wondering word slipped from her waking lips.    
  
_"Lifestream. . .?"  
  
  
  



	4. Dreams

Sun and Shadow  
Chapter 4: Dreams  
By Sephiroth 4000_  
   
They never thought that he might watch them.  
  
 Of course, that was the point.  SOLDIER cadets might get nervous if they knew the Great General, THE First Class SOLDIER, Sephiroth himself, were watching.  
  
 He simply observed them from above the training field, moving quietly along the shadowed balcony.  About twelve boys sweated at their labours in the hot summer sun, tussling with each other, struggling to reach their objective.  
  
The bottle of cool icy water kept perfectly frozen at the end of several obstacle courses.  These included the usual monkey bars, tyres, pools of water etc, but what wasn't so conventional were the traps each boy was allowed to implant before the race started.  Even as his amused eyes tracked their progress, one boy fell on his face after running into a near invisible knee high wire.  He went tumbling wildly in the dust, blonde spikes in a total disarray.  The boys after him took note; each of them took a neat leap over the wire.  From being first, the blonde boy had gone to being far behind last, falling two levels down below.  He doggedly climbed to his feet and tore wearily up to catch up with the other cadets.  
  
Too late; too much effort.  Several of the boys lay sprawled in the dust while the dark haired victor laughed, took a long drink, and flung some of the chilly water on his exhausted comrades.  
  
Their commander gestured for them to come, and all traces of amusement left Sephiroth's face.  It was time for this group to have their first infusion of Mako.  
  
_He started, blinking furiously.  Azure eyes shadowed, he continued eating the rest of his breakfast, a simple meal of cereal and juice.  It reminded him of his childhood in Nibelheim actually; Cloud's mother was a late riser, and he was an early one.  She had told him he got that from his father.    
  
Perhaps Tifa would like some breakfast.    
  
Today was a strange day.   He still had not shaken off the odd feeling of detachment he had woken with.  And the peculiar sourceless light coming from the overcast sky didn't help.  
  
. . . .He hated days like this.  
  
Perhaps it was merely because on cloudy days, all the children of Nibelheim were forced to stay close to the villiage.  After all, the area was notorious for the lightning quick flash floods during the frequent storms; it was only during those rare sunny days that Cloud was able to escape the confines of the disapproving stares.  
  
_"I heard he's a bastard."  
  
"That woman. . .she just walked into town one day, and payed an exorbient sum for that house. . .It used to belong to that old man. . .heard he left for Mideel."  
  
"It's no secret that they don't know who his father is."  
  
". . . .Bastard. . ."  
  
_And the blonde boy had simply hunched his shoulders, bowed down by the weight of the censorious stares_, _and the constant whispering.  No one ever said anything to him. . .they were all kind weren't they?  
  
_"It's alright honey, don't listen to them. . .It doesn't matter. . .Your father was an honourable man. . ."  
  
"Why don't I have a dad, mommy?"  
  
_

_"He had to go far far away, Cloud.  But he promised me. . .He promised that he would come back when it was all over. . We've got to take care of each other, alright?."  
  
"And Cloud, you take care of yourself. . .I feel it.  It feels like I'm being led by something.  Then, I'll be going now.  I'll come back when it's all over."   
  
_He jerked up, and away from those untouched memories.  _I. . .I don't want to remember this. . ._He was choking on the memories of his past; he couldn't breathe; he had to. . ._  
  
_With a hard squeal against the polished floor, he shoved back his chair, almost running to the kitchen.    
  
He had to make breakfast for Tifa.    
  
  
  



	5. Spirit

Sun and Shadow  
Chapter 5: Spirit  
By Sephiroth 4000  
  
She shivered high on the altar. All around her, the shadows of people flickered and went, the remnants of travelers in this odd half world; a realm that was neither life nor death. A realm where the Summons dwelt in the flesh, although their corporal bodies seemed to mean nothing to them, and they changed as they pleased.   
  
A warm heavy black weight dropped over her shoulders.   
  
She reached up to gather the supple leather around her slim form, inhaling the metallic tang from heavy armour, as well as the subtler surprisingly pleasant scent that was Sephiroth's own. "Thank you."  
  
He shrugged, a movement she more sensed then saw. For a moment, cold hard pain bloomed through her back to her stomach, but she suppressed it quickly. She turned to regard, the perfectly formed expressionless features, a face that was one moment pure and clean, the next slightly scarred, the next covered in blood, crimson trailing down his face, along his cheekbones to fall down the clean line of his jaw. His eyes never changed though; cold deep pools, utterly brilliant aquamarine orbs. Beautiful, but too much. Just like the rest of him.

"It's alright. I never felt the cold." His voice had no inflection at all, but his hand rested lightly on her shoulder. She could feel it's warmth through his coat. She turned her face away from him again to regard the cool still lake, bedazzling her eyes with reflected light.   
  
"Is she coming?"  
  
"Yes. I summoned her this morning." It had been hard; so hard. She was still exhausted by it, as exhausted as she had been the first time she had entered this world, born from her death.

As exhausted as he had been, born from his death.  
  
She had been frightened of him in those first months, after he had recovered. She had hidden away from him. But eventually they had been drawn together; not out of any conscious choice, but merely by the fact. . .  
  
That they were lonely.  
  
In this entire twilight world, they were the only two beings that were truly alive. Or truly dead if one chose to look at it like that. The only ones who still remembered what life had been like in the 'real world'.  
  
The only ones still able to resist the pull of their materia. Of course it helped that no one had found, much less used them yet. . .  
  
"It will be good when she comes. Soon, we will both be able to go on."  
  
"Optimism? From you, Sephiroth?" She turned to face him once more, a smile curving her mouth, expressive eyes sparkling like jewels with her mirth.  
  
He shrugged again, unperturbed, but the slightest smile tugging at his finely shaped lips, eyes narrowing slightly. She had grown adept at reading the tiny signs of his changes of expression.  
  
And suddenly, at the signs of amusement on his face, she once again felt the hard burn of pain in her middle, the cold clench of fear. Her hands fisted under the cover of his coat, and she quickly looked away again. Her fear overwhelmed her sometimes. He had never been anything less then perfectly polite to her; his manners were exquisite. However, she couldn't forget the eerily similiar pleased look he had worn the day he had slain her. Her last memories of life were of that small smile, and of Cloud's agonized face.  
  
Together, lit by the sparkling waters of the Ancient City's lake, they waited.


End file.
